Proper Britannian (Elizabethan as a Second Language)

A Rose by any other name.

In UO titles can reveal a great deal about a player. Are you honorable? Perhaps you're Admirable, Famed or even higher on the scale with a title such as Great Lord or Great Lady or are you despicable or even worse?. In Elizabethan times titles such as Lord or Lady were used when addressing nobility, yet even when engaged in a conversation with a common fishwife titles were appropriate and in UO such titles can add a huge splash of color to any phrase or greeting.

Elizabethans were sharply aware of their place in society and knew how to keep their place in the rigidly structured class system. Are you addressing a simple tailor or a grand lord of the realm? Here you will find titles for all stations of Elizabethan (and therefore Britannian) society. When you use a tittle while speaking to other players you honor them in the process. Try using some of these titles in everyday conversation with other UO players and you may find they are more willing to speak with you, to give directions or to loan that one Black Pearl that you need in order to recall yourself home.

Titles and Rank
Lesson Two
Lets take a look at a part of the excerpt from The Merry Wives of Windsor from lesson one.

Fenton (a gentleman): How now good woman; how dost thou?
Mistress Quickly (a servant): The better that it pleases your good worship to ask.
-Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor

Here we see that Fenton, a gentleman is addressing Mistress Quickly, a servant. When Mistress Quickly answers Fenton's question she does so with "your good worship". This seems only appropriate and we would expect such behavior from a servant addressing one of higher rank. Yet we also see that Fenton used "good woman" while addressing the servant in the first place. This is not simply an acknowledgment that Mistress Quickly is good, it's a title!

Elizabethan titles included even common words such as woman or man and most used some other descriptive as a prefix such as good, kind, fair or noble. Titles also recognized a person's status
or rank, age and sex - and in many cases occupation. Let's look at some of these titles.

Addressing Men - Rank and Station

The King

Your Majesty; Your Grace; Your Most Gracious Majesty

Nobility. Clergy, Important Officials, GM Mages (UO), Healers (UO).

My Lord(s); My Good Lord(s); Your worship; Noble Sir(s);

Good Gentles (used if speaking to more than one)

Middle Class Craftsmen, Merchants, Peasants

Sir (as in: Good Sir - Well met Sir - Good Day Sir)

Master; Goodman; (use both as you would use Mr. as in: Master Brown or Master Sirith - Goodman Jones or Goodman Barleycorn)

Elderly Peasant

Father; Gaffer (grandfather)

Young Man or close male friend

Lad ("Good day my fine lads"); M'Lad (for My lad)

Occupation

Master (or in the case of UO, Grandmaster)

You see a man with a Katana and a shield: "Master Swordsman"; "Grandmaster Swordsman". (Hail, Master swordsman, well met!")

You see a man provoking two beasts: "Master Musician" or "Master Bard". ("Good morrow master bard, thou dost play well".)

Insults

Fellow; (to be moderately rude and clearly condescending)

Sirrah; (you despise the man enough to flamestrike him)

Elizabethan allows for a great deal of variety so use these titles with other terms and remember that even the word "Good" is a title. Use it and other descriptive in front of titles as in these examples: "God ye good e'en, your good worship Del" - "Fare thee well, Good Lad Jones". Try to call every sir a good sir or kind sir and every mistress a kind mistress or fair mistress and every wench a sweet wench - it adds so much to your greetings!
(Contrary to popular belief "wench" simply means "girl" and it was not considered rude).

Addressing Women - Rank and Station

The Queen

Your Majesty; Your Grace; Your Most Gracious Majesty

Noblewomen

My Lady; Noble Lady; Noble Madam; Good my lady; (The latter meaning "My Good Lady". This use of Good can be used in other places as well. A Guild Master speaking to his assembled members might start by saying "Good My People!" meaning my good people).

Good Gentles (used if speaking to more than one)

Middle Class and Yeoman Wives, Peasants

Mistress; Dear Mistress; Kind Mistress; Fair Mistress; Sweet Mistress
(Mistress is a kind title that makes NO reference to marital status or rank) "Good Morrow, kind Mistress Raven, How dost thou?"

Goodwife; "Well met, Goodwife Lilac". Goody; "Hail Goody Mara".
Goody is a less formal use of goodwife as in: "Well met, Goody Aine!
Didst thou hear of Goody Lavender? She did slay ten ettins barehanded." Goody works well for gossip and is usually applied to married women (however, in UO we might take liberties with it's use).

Good Woman: Much the same use as Goodwife.
"God you good den, Good Woman Brown".

Peasants Only: Wench
The peasant class woman would be called by the same titles as those for the middle class with the addition of the title "Wench". (examples: fair wench; sweet wench; kind wench).

Elderly Peasant

Mother; Gammar (grandmother)

Young Woman or close Female friend

Lass ("Good day my lass"); Maid; Maiden ("Hail Maiden Mara").

Occupation

Although Master is used for male occupation titles no such distinction is used for women. Rather one uses the same titles as for middle class or merchant then adds the name of the profession.

You see a woman at a loom or wheel: "Good day Mistress Weaver" (where weaver is not her name but her occupation as in "Good day sweet milkmaid").

When using titles try to use an appropriate one. Does the person's paperdoll say Grandmaster Tailor? Then use "Master Weaver" or "Good Sir Weaver" or "Mistress Weaver" when addressing him or her. Do you know the tailor personally? If so use more familiar terms such as "Goodman (name)" or "Goodwife (name)". Add greetings you learned in Lesson One such as "How now, Goodman Cartman" or "Give you good day, Goody Aine". Use the titles in everyday conversations, "Let us away to Moonglow; Goodman Garrison, that we might buy reagents".

Be creative. Are you in a Tavern and in need of a heady ale? Then "Good Tapster" might be a appropriate choice of title as "tapster" was another name for a tavern keeper: "More ale here; Master Tapster, for I do thirst!" Are you buying 3K bolts of cloth from a woman at the Brit bank? "Many and great thankings; Mistress Mercer, thou hast saved me great labor". "Mercer" was a name for a textiles dealer. Are you buying bulk leather? Use "Master Tanner" or "Mistress Tanner" etc. Above all have fun with it and try to come up with some of your own combinations.

Although it is proper to say "Thou didst flamestrike the gazer well, Good Mistress Aine!" it is NOT proper to tack "way cool" at the end of it. In the next two sections we will learn alternatives to modern terms and phrases which will help you to sound more "archaic" when interacting with other players. "Learn them well, Good my readers!"